Excessive weight gain

This is kind of hard for me to post about but I’m getting desperate, so please be nice.. I have been up and down in weight my whole life and constantly struggling with diets. But I finally hit my lowest weight (unfortunately not in the most healthy way) right before getting pregnant.

Going from an extreme calorie restrictive diet to eating whatever I felt like eating caused me to gain back everything I lost in my diet very quickly... I gained about 25lbs in the first trimester and another 5 after that. Since I hit my pre-diet weight, my weight gain has slowed down to “average” during pregnancy.. but I’m terrified of how much I’ve put on so far.

I’m 17 w 4 d so I still have a long way to go and I don’t want to gain any more weight than absolutely necessary.. watching the scale climb back up is killing me. I know it’s a silly thing to get worked up over but it’s causing some major depression and self esteem issues. I feel like all my hard work was for nothing.

Any tips on keeping off extra weight gain or staying positive about the necessary pounds?

Comments (12)

I had the same struggle last pregnancy, and gained more than I wanted to. My goal this time is to continue to restrict carbs to the carb level allowed by the gestational diabetes eating plan (about 110 carbs per day). I don't just eat carbs; I overeat them to an extreme. They trigger binges, particularly when they come from breads and sweets. So my plan is to only consume carbs from fruits and veggies in order to avoid by binging triggers. I wish I could be one of those people who can eat bread in moderation, but I'm just not.

Also, eating home cooked food allows me much better control over ingredients (like hidden sugar and sodium) that often lurk in restaurant prepared food.

I also agree with trying to eat low carb. I was eating low carb until I got pregnant with constant nausea so I’m eating a lot more carbs then I used to in order to settle my stomach. However I’ve been eating several small meals throughout the day and somehow for the first time in my life I haven’t gained any weight! Must be the babies. Maybe eating more frequent smaller meals could also help. And trying to eat less carbs since you’re likely past the morning sickness phase by now.

You realistically would have gained that weight back anyway unless what you were doing to lose it in the first place was something you could maintain for life, especially since it was only 25 lbs which is easy to put on quickly. This is why crash diets don’t work long term!

I think you’re being way too hard on yourself. Your body hadn’t had time to adjust your metabolism and hunger to your new weight, that takes two years of maintenance, so it really would have been fighting a losing battle while pregnant.

You don’t have to eat low carb to not gain an excessive amount of weight while pregnant though. You just eat the way you would to maintain your weight when you’re not pregnant. We get to eat a LOT of calories already (compared to people of lower weights) just to maintain, so you really don’t have to be all that restrictive. The main thing is don’t binge. Eat whatever you want, but in the recommended portion size.

For what it’s worth, this is my third pregnancy, I’m 32 wks and still at -4kg gained. I eat as many carbs as I feel like, but I don’t eat as much as I want of whatever I want, no one can do that and not gain weight. I do eat a reasonable amount of whatever I want though. And I don’t binge, ever.

When I was pregnant with my son, I ate pretty normally just cut out things like my coffee and soda and added more fresh vegetables. I also drank a ton of water. I lost quite a bit of weight until the 3rd trimester and ended up going in to give birth at 3 pounds lighter than the week I got pregnant.

I agree with the pp who said that you would have gained the weight unless that dietary change was something that you'd be doing for life. Last year I lost over 40 pounds doing the Omni diet, it's a very calorie restrictive, strict diet and realistically NOT something anyone should plan on doing for life. Once I got off it, I gained everything back.

You realistically would have gained that weight back anyway unless what you w...

Last edited
10/03/2018

You realistically would have gained that weight back anyway unless what you were doing to lose it in the first place was something you could maintain for life, especially since it was only 25 lbs which is easy to put on quickly. This is why crash diets don’t work long term!

I think you’re being way too hard on yourself. Your body hadn’t had time to adjust your metabolism and hunger to your new weight, that takes two years of maintenance, so it really would have been fighting a losing battle while pregnant.

You don’t have to eat low carb to not gain an excessive amount of weight while pregnant though. You just eat the way you would to maintain your weight when you’re not pregnant. We get to eat a LOT of calories already (compared to people of lower weights) just to maintain, so you really don’t have to be all that restrictive. The main thing is don’t binge. Eat whatever you want, but in the recommended portion size.

For what it’s worth, this is my third pregnancy, I’m 32 wks and still at -4kg gained. I eat as many carbs as I feel like, but I don’t eat as much as I want of whatever I want, no one can do that and not gain weight. I do eat a reasonable amount of whatever I want though. And I don’t binge, ever.

Like you, I have a tendency to go up and down the scale. I’m at risk for gestational diabetes and try to keep my carbs to a minimum of 20 grams per meal and max 30.after I eat, I go for a 30 minute walk. I also chug a ton of water. Are you on an exercise plan?

You can continue to count calories during pregnancy, ask your doctor how many you should be eating daily during each trimester and make sure you're eating nutritious foods, not just whatever you want. Making sustainable changes is the only way to keep the weight off. You'll never keep it off eating whatever you want unless you're still eating calories at maintinance level. This is why weight lost is gained back more than 80% of the time and nearly 70% of Americans are overweight. Eating whatever we want usually doesn't mean we're eating healthy foods in sensible portions.

ETA: I lost 80 pounds and then thought I could go back to what I did before losing the weight and be fine. The way I ate before losing is obviously what made me gain weight in the first place, so I ended up gaining about 10 pounds back in no time. I lost those 10 and my doctor taught me to maintain my weight pretty easily, though it involved continuing to count calories till I got in the swing of eating to maintain instead of lose/gain. Maintaining afterward is the hardest part of weight loss, you can't go back to the diet you use to have unless you want to go back to the weight you use to have. But I'd recommend talking to your doctor about maintinance and healthy weight gain.

You should be able to just eat the calories needed to maintain your current weight, maybe 150 extra for what the baby takes. I did that last pregnancy and didn’t gain, and so far this pregnancy I have not gained.

Like you, I have a tendency to go up and down the scale. I’m at risk for ge...

Posted
10/03/2018

Like you, I have a tendency to go up and down the scale. I’m at risk for gestational diabetes and try to keep my carbs to a minimum of 20 grams per meal and max 30.after I eat, I go for a 30 minute walk. I also chug a ton of water. Are you on an exercise plan?

Even if you did develop diabetes, you don’t have to eat low carb to control blood sugar! My sister is type 1 so I grew up eating like a diabetic, count carbs yes but if you’re eating 2000 calories a day you can have like 250 carbs. The type of carbs matter! I like the “exchange diet” that’s what I grew up on.

I actually can’t exercise while pregnant because I have pretty debilitating pelvic pain, it’s all I can do just to walk. But I’ve still never gained any body weight while pregnant and I eat whatever foods I want to, just without having huge portions. I even indulge cravings sometimes! I do tend to gain some baby weight at the end in those last 8 weeks but that all comes right off within a few days of delivery.

So I suppose I should mention that I had a gastric bypass a few years ago. So at my lowest weight I had lost 140lbs. After DD (dear daughter) it was really hard for me to lose weight again and i tried lots of diets but nothing was sticking. so I started doing the diet they give you right after the surgery which is extremely calorie restricted combined with a daily workout. I was losing weight again finally So watching the scale climb back up is horrible.

I’m not eating fast food or junk food for the most part. But I did stop eating so strictly. I still get exercise in every day. I’m just sooooo hungry all the time. I try to make good choices but it doesn’t always work. I talked to my doctor and she isn’t worried about it because I’m gaining a normal amount of weight and not binging on bad foods. (Although you ladies are probably right about the carbs)

Honestly it’s probably just the mental struggle that I’m having a hard time with..

Even if you did develop diabetes, you don’t have to eat low carb to control...

Posted
10/03/2018

Even if you did develop diabetes, you don’t have to eat low carb to control blood sugar! My sister is type 1 so I grew up eating like a diabetic, count carbs yes but if you’re eating 2000 calories a day you can have like 250 carbs. The type of carbs matter! I like the “exchange diet” that’s what I grew up on.

I actually can’t exercise while pregnant because I have pretty debilitating pelvic pain, it’s all I can do just to walk. But I’ve still never gained any body weight while pregnant and I eat whatever foods I want to, just without having huge portions. I even indulge cravings sometimes! I do tend to gain some baby weight at the end in those last 8 weeks but that all comes right off within a few days of delivery.

Really? That’s what my dietitian told me. Perhaps it’s a different situation for me since I have other ailments I’m dealing with.

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